WICHITA, Kan. - Three-time All-American Midwest Conference selection Nate Schwartze reached 1,000 career points as William Woods University (1-0) opened the 2024-25 season with an 84-70 win at Friends University (0-1) Friday at Garvey Center. The Owls were led by first-team All-AMC honoree Henry Shannon III (20 points [7-8 field goals and 6-7 free throws] and seven rebounds) and Francis Okwuosah (18 points [6-12 field goals and 4-4 free throws] and six rebounds).

In a back-and-forth start to the contest, the Owls and Falcons were tied at 6 before Friends went on a 13-3 run to go up by 10 points (19-9) with 9:14 left in the first half. William Woods did narrow its deficit to as few as four points (23-19) on Owls newcomer D'Mari Wiltz's 3-pointer, but Friends went back up by seven (28-21) before another first-year WWU player knocked down a shot from deep, 6'9'' Jacob LaBounty this time with  5:09 left before halftime to make it 28-24 Falcons. 

"I thought we struggled tonight early on, for the majority of the first half," William Woods men's basketball coach Jordan Ashton said. "With it being our first game, you don't expect to be great in all areas, but we've got to be much better in the ones we control. That's something we'll continue to work on and focus on going forward."

Putting himself three points away from his 1,000th career point, Schwartze drained a 3-pointer to put him at six points and tie the contest at 31 with 3:06 remaining in the first half. However, the Falcons scored five unanswered points to go up 36-31 with 1:27 to go in the half. Then, the Owls put it together on both sides and ended the first half on a 6-0 run, with three different players scoring: Ty'Shon Pannell started the stretch by going 2-of-2 from the free throw line, Kevin Taylor hit a shot in the paint and so did Tre Titus to cap the run and first-half scoring 25 seconds before halftime with WWU up 37-36.

Whatever happened in the locker room at halftime lit a fire for the Owls to begin the second half, as they tallied the first 10 points with no reply. Four of those points came from none other than Schwartze, as he finished that run by surpassing 1,000 career points on his 2-pointer with 16:08 to go in the game - he needed nine points to reach 1,000 for his career, and the 2-pointer gave him 10.

"I was proud of the way our guys came out in the second half," Ashton said. "They knew we weren't playing how we needed to for the first 15 minutes of the game. They came together, figured it out, and turned it around in the second half. It still wasn't fully where we expected it to be, but definitely a step in the right direction. We have an experienced group, and I think that experience really helps in those times."

The Owls remained comfortably in control for a good chunk of the second half, and when Schwartze finished off his 14-point game - also collected six rebounds and dished out three assists - by sinking two free throws, they all but sealed the win by increasing their advantage to 13 points (79-66) with 46 seconds left in the matchup. That happened to be the case, and Okwuosah's two made free throws with 18 seconds remaining gave WWU its most significant lead of the game (84-68), with Friends hitting a garbage-time 2-pointer for the game's final points, which made the Owls' winning margin 14 points.

Winning the rebound battle is always crucial, and Woods did that with 44 boards (15 offensive) to Friends' 30 (12 offensive). Additionally, the Owls went 26-56 from the field, 7-18 from beyond the arc and 25-32 at the charity stripe and they forced eight turnovers while the Falcons were 21-59 from the field, 5-20 on 3-pointers and 23-31 on free throws and forced 15 turnovers.

Outside of William Woods' big three of Shannon, Okwuosah and Schwartze, the Owls had standout displays from Wiltz (seven points, seven rebounds and three assists) and Titus (eight points, four rebounds and two assists).

William Woods is back on the court for two games against future conference opponents in the Remy Williams Classic, hosted by Park University, next weekend, beginning with Benedictine College (0-0) at 3 p.m. next Friday at Breckon Sports Center in Parkville.

"We'll get back to work and lock in on where we need to be better before going to play two more on the road next weekend," Ashton said. Read Full Article